Alex lounges in the passenger seat, calm and curious, taking it all in.
“You okay?” he asks, glancing my way.
I nod, but it’s a lie. “Yeah, just dreading this.”
He watches me for a beat. “You don’t have to protect me from whatever’s waiting. I’m not here to judge where you came from. I’m here for you.”
A thick swallow catches in my throat as my gaze locks on the cracked stretch of road ahead. “You need a heads-up about my mom. And Charlene.”
Alex chuckles. “Babe… I’m pretty sure I have a decent idea of what to expect.”
“They’ll be all Southern sweetness when they meet you. Call you darlin’ and talk like they’ve been baking casseroles for church potlucks their whole lives. Make no mistake. It’s an act.”
He hums. “I’ll do my best not to tell them to go to hell for the way they’ve treated you. But I make no promises.”
I laugh under my breath. “If the urge hits, don’t hold back on my account.”
“Noted.” A beat passes. “You never told me where we’re staying.”
“Hotel downtown.”
He lifts a brow. “We’re not staying with your mom?”
“Absolutely not.”
“You stayed at my grandparents’ fale in Samoa in the middle of nowhere. Even shared a room with three of my cousins and was a good sport about it.”
“That was different.”
“How so?”
“Because your family can be trusted.” I grip the wheel a little tighter. “It has nothing to do with the house, Alex. Although it’s not a place I want to stay. It’s about her.”
His silence invites more. And dammit, I give it.
“I don’t trust her around you.” Those are some hard words to admit. “As I told you before, she has a history of crossing boundaries with men. And she is going to think you are too handsome, too charming, and too rich to resist—the ultimate temptation. And trust me, Robin’s never met a line she didn’t want to cross.”
I stare straight ahead, jaw tight. “I’m not giving her the chance to be inappropriate. Not with you.”
“Favorite, there is no universe where I’d ever be interested in your mother.”
“I know. This isn’t about that. I trust you. I don’t want to put you in a position where she makes you uncomfortable. Or where I have to pretend everything is okay to keep the peace.”
“If she so much as breathes in my direction wrong, I’m following your lead. No fake smiles. No playing nice for people who don’t deserve it.”
A laugh slips out—dry, disbelieving. Not because it’s funny, but because it’s absurd that this even needs to be said to the man I’m marrying. “Thanks for being in my corner.”
He reaches over, giving my thigh a gentle squeeze. “Always. Yours is the only side I’ll ever be on.”
We check into the newest hotel in town—sleek, fresh, still smelling of paint and new carpet. It’s not luxurious enough for a bellhop, but it tries. Clean lobby. Modern fixtures. Muted gold accents that want to whisper elegance. It’s not Sebring Hotels—nothing ever is—but it holds its own.
The road to Robin’s place curves through a past I’ve never quite outrun—familiar mailboxes, peeling porches, ghosts of sixteen still clinging to every turn. I grip the wheel, gaze fixed ahead, shoulders coiled tight. Beside me, Alex is all quiet composure, his hand loose on his knee. But the closer we get, the heavier the air sits on my chest.
This isn’t the house I grew up in—Robin’s been bouncing from one rental to the next ever since her last landlord had enough. But the bones of this place feel familiar in all the worst ways. Weather-beaten siding, a front yard with more weeds than grass, and a porch swing that creaks.
I step out of the car, and I’m seventeen again—raw at the edges and bracing for impact.
Robin shoves open the screen door before we’re halfway up the walk, arms wide and smile stretched a little too tight. “Well, look at you,” she says, her eyes dragging over Alex like he’s the dessert tray she didn’t order but plans to sample anyway. “Aren’t you something else?”
